Comment: The following letter appeared in the Cyprus Mail of Nicosia on 2 April 2005.

North tourism posters vandalised in London

"Under a picture of a sandy beach with the slogan ‘North Cyprus, a sanctuary of unspoiled beauty', vandals scrawled ‘Until the Turks came along’... Similar posters were banned from the capital's buses after London Mayor Ken Livingstone received complaints from members of the Greek Cypriot community who found them offensive..."

ENFIELD'S large Turkish Cypriot community has spoken of its outrage
after posters advertising northern Cyprus as a tourist destination were
defaced with offensive graffiti.

A number of posters erected by the ‘TRNC’ tourist board were
ripped off walls or defaced in roads along Green Lanes and the North
Circular Road in London, last week.

Under a picture of a sandy beach with the slogan ‘North Cyprus, a
sanctuary of unspoiled beauty', vandals scrawled ‘Until the Turks came
along’ on the poster in Lyndhurst Road, just across the Haringey border.

Aydin Halil, of Green Lanes, Palmers Green, said "when I saw what
had been done, I was really angered. I think it is really disappointing
that we can't stand up for ourselves. The people who did this are very
bitter people."

Similar posters were banned from the capital's buses after London
Mayor Ken Livingstone received complaints from members of the Greek
Cypriot community who found them offensive.

Joanne McCartney, Enfield and Haringey's Greater London Assembly
representative, condemned any graffiti on the posters and said she will
meet members of the Greek, Turkish and Cypriot communities to discuss
their concerns. "I understand there is concern and it's still an
extremely sensitive issue."

Costas Giorgiou, of the Green Lanes Business Association, said "we
would like to see a working solution for the Cyprus problem for both
Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. The sooner they reach a solution
the better."

Vandalised billboards were found as far afield as Tottenham and
Wood Green.
It is estimated there are around 33,000 residents of Cypriot
origin living in Enfield."